It is generally known in the art of single or double depth serpentine track dispensing mechanisms for cylindrical articles, that storage capacity is increased by utilizing the serpentine type track, without increasing the outer configuration of the article storage area. As shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,498,497 and 3,613,945, each serpentine track has a meandering shape from top to bottom which causes the cylindrical articles to roll down in response to gravity from the upper end thereof to a discharge opening at the lower end thereof. Delivery of these cylindrical articles from the discharge opening is controlled by a discharge control device disposed at the discharge opening.
In a serpentine track dispensing mechanisms of the above type, the depth of each serpentine track can be slightly changed to adapt to various diameter articles, but no mechanism for adjusting the horizontal length of the track is known. Therefore, if the dimensions of the serpentine track do not correspond to the size of the dispensing articles, many problems may result, such as, the smooth rolling motion of the articles may be hindered and/or articles may obstruct the track by tipping over from their stored posture or otherwise becoming misaligned while rolling down along the track. Particularly, if the length of the articles is much shorter than the horizontal length of the serpentine track, the articles may jump the track. Thus, while rolling down the track, the articles may become damaged and/or obstruct the track.
One possible solution to the above-mentioned problems is to design many different types of serpentine track that accommodate every article size utilized in the industry. However, over the past several years the number of sizes of cylindrical articles has increased, thus this solution is not very practical.